Boston University

We created a spreadsheet/database for monitoring/communicating with recent graduates.

The TIR has been awarded one grant from the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to provide area science teachers with 60 hours of professional development to deepen content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in chemistry.

Four graduate students (from outside BU) have been recruited to enroll in the SED MAT program with a specialization in physics teaching. These individuals will be working closely with the PhysTEC TIR during their pre-practicum and practicum experiences.

Challenges

A significant project will be to develop a full induction and mentoring plan for future (September 2014) in-service Noyce and PhysTEC graduates.

Sustainability

Our Noyce Scholarship proposal for science teachers was funded, which will be a big help with our induction and mentoring efforts. We continue to develop a plan to initiate a formal induction and mentoring process utilizing the TIR and Master Teachers from the Noyce program.

Activities

We created a database of current and recent physics teaching students.

We consistently invited teachers to campus events that have teacher-recruitment themes. This informed teachers about PhysTEC activities, and strengthened our network of supportive faculty and teachers for new in-service teachers.

The TIR has created and is maintaining a spreadsheet/database of area administrators and local physics teachers that are receptive to supporting PhysTEC and Noyce pre-service teachers in full practicum experiences.

The TIR has created and is maintaining a spreadsheet/database of area administrators that are receptive to hiring future PhysTEC graduates.

The TIR, working closely with School of Education faculty, has begun developing an induction plan for future (starting in fall of 2014) Noyce and PhysTEC graduates.

The BU Physics Teacher Network met five times with an average participation from area in-service physics teachers of 30. Some of these teachers are likely candidates to provide pre-practicum and full practicum experiences for our Noyce and PhysTEC students.